Isolation
by TaliaThompson
Summary: Bravo Team is sent on a dangerous mission in Russia, when things go wrong.
1. Chapter 1

**Briefing Room – Virginia Beach**

The team, one by one, entered the briefing room for the first time in a few weeks. They had previously been sent on three consecutive missions due to circumstances beyond their control and as a result were rewarded for some well-deserved time off.

They each took their seats, excited to get back in the game.

"Whatcha got for us Mandy?" Jason asked eagerly.

She pulled up a picture and began to explain. "This is Yuri Petrov, a highly sought-after human trafficker known for luring and kidnapping American college students and then selling them to whoever is willing to pay top dollar for them. He's highly feared and has eyes everywhere and as a result, people are afraid to give up his location. That is until now." She pulls up another picture of a middle-aged male. "This is Andrei Sokolov. Used to be Yuri's right-hand man until they had a major falling out over money."

"Let me guess, he wants to make a deal? Information on Yuri in exchange for what? An easier sentence?" Jason asked.

"That and he wants payback against Yuri." Mandy added.

"How do we know what he's saying is true?" Sonny questioned.

"We have boots on the ground in the area. They said everything appears to be true so far." Davis jumped in.

"If there's already boots on the ground then why are we being sent in?" Clay asked.

"Glad you asked." Mandy smirked. She then proceeded to pull up a picture of a mountain. This is Manaraga Mountain, also commonly called the voodoo mountain."

All eyes immediately fell to Sonny, waiting for him to respond. "You're sending us to mountain referred to as 'voodoo mountain?' Is this one we can opt out of?"

Everyone all got a quick chuckle out his response, but it didn't last long. They all understood the seriousness of this mission.

"So, what's so bad about this mountain to earn such a nickname?" Brock asked.

"It's extremely dangerous, making even the most experienced climbers seem like first timers. Many of the locals consider it alive, offering it occasional sacrificial stones. They claim the mountain 'does not let' mountain tourists to its peak due to the extreme obstacles and unpredictable changing weather predictions. There's not a single tour guide that will take people to the mountain." Mandy said.

"And we're going there why?" Ray asked.

"Yuri and his men have a hideout halfway up. That where he holds his 'prisoners' until they are sold. He feels safe there since no one is willing to step foot on the mountain." Davis added.

Suddenly, they weren't as excited to return to work as they were before. They have never been afraid of a location before, but this one changed that.

"Wheels up in two hours." Blackburn said as he dismissed his men to pack and prepare for their flight to Russia.

**Manaraga Mountain, Russia **

Nothing about this mission was going to be easy. That was made perfectly clear by everyone. As they took their first few steps up the mountain they could see why. It was steep, it was rocky, it was grassy, it was snowy, it was windy. It all depended on what part of the mountain they were on. And to make things work, they were told to stay off the main 'trails' as much as possible to avoid being detected, meaning they had to climb.

"Everyone stay alert and be on you're A game. Got it?" Jason ordered.

Everyone nodded as they carefully continued scaling their way up the mountain. They split up into two groups. Jason, Sonny, and Trent went left, while Ray, Brock and Clay went right.

A quarter of the way to their target location, Trent saw something out of the corner of his eye. "Boss, I've got movement to the right." He whispered.

The three stopped where they were, hoping whatever Trent saw was just an animal and if not, that whoever it was didn't notice them. They stayed motionless for minutes, waiting to spot whatever Trent had seen. They were just about to start moving again when Sonny caught a glimpse as well. He looked over at Jason to tell him and Jason just nodded his head letting Sonny know that he had seen it as well.

Jason quietly reached for his radio to inform the other three of what they were seeing. "Bravo two, this is Bravo one, be advised we have movement headed towards your direction. Proceed with caution." Jason whispered over.

"Copy Bravo one, proceeding with caution." Ray whispered back. Ray then looked around and found a clearing a little further to the right. "Bravo six, see that clearing over there?" He spoke quietly to Clay.

Clay looked to the right then nodded.

"I want you to make your way over there, and get high. Take out anyone that appears to be in our path. We'll have slight visual on you and will stay put until you reach location. If anyone approaches you, we'll take them out." Ray instructed.

Clay hesitated for a moment, not liking the idea of being separated or leaving the security of the rope, but the clearing wasn't nearly as steep as where they were not so he didn't complain. "Copy."

As Clay unclipped himself from the rope, Ray put a hand on his shoulder. "Hey. Be careful." Clay nodded and then began making his way away from the safety of the group.

Clay just about made it to clearing without a problem. He looked over to Ray and Brock and gave them a thumbs up, letting them know he was good. He started slowly moving again through the last few feet of rocky terrain, when one of the rocks he stepped on came loose. He tried to quickly grab onto something, but there was no time. Before he knew it, he was rolling down the mountain, trying to protect himself from falling rocks and debris, while also bracing for impact.

He rolled about 20 feet and then dropped straight down another 5 feet, landing on one of the paths they were told to avoid. When he landed, he was face up, thankful that the big rocks were no longer falling that could have possibly landed on him. He took a deep breath and noted that he was sore, but nothing appeared to be broken. Most likely just bumps, scrapes, and bruises. He sat himself up and when he went to get on his feet, noticed a sharp pain in his ankle. It didn't feel broke, but it was definitely sprained. He reached for his radio and found it wasn't there. _'Must have lost in in the fall.' _He thought.

Clay looked up and could see Ray and Brock looking down at him with worried looks. He estimated them to be at least 20 feet up. He brushed himself off and then attempted to stand again, this time using the rock wall he fell from for support. He put as much weight on his ankle as he could to test out how weight bearing it was. It hurt like a bitch, but nothing he couldn't suck up and limp through.

Ray and Brock looked down in shock, but relieved to see Clay wasn't seriously injured. The thing that concerned them most was his limp. It was a pretty big limp that was impossible to miss and would without a doubt make climbing back up nearly impossible. Ray was just about to radio Jason to inform him of the situation, when his heart dropped.

Below, they noticed a group of 15 men rapidly approaching Clay's location and Clay was completely unaware. They couldn't radio him since it was made obvious Clay either lost it or broke it in the fall, they couldn't shout down to him without giving away their location and there were too many men to take out. The second they would open fire, their location would be immediately given away. They couldn't take the chance. They knew where Clay was being taken. Their best chance of getting him back was making it to the location undetected. For now, the only thing they could do was sit there and watch.

Watch as Clay was questioned, watch as Clay was pushed around and then watch as Clay was taken.

It all happened so quick, although it felt like forever. Once Clay was no longer in sight, Ray reached for the radio. "Bravo two to Bravo one, we have a Major problem." Ray hissed, dreading telling Jason what just occurred.


	2. Chapter 2

Clay fought the best he could, but knew there was no way he could over power 15 guys himself and even if by some miracle he did get away, there was no way he could run from them. He prayed Brock and Ray would remain quiet and undetected so that they could rescue him and thankfully they did.

The men kept asking him questions in Russian. Questions he understood clearly, but decided it would be better if they didn't know he spoke the language.

He kept repeating "I'm American. I speak English. I don't understand Russian. I don't know what you're saying."

The men seemed to grow impatient with the language barrier and gave up questioning him. Instead, they covered his mouth so he couldn't speak, zip tied his wrists behind his back and pushed him forward. He fell to knees as he instinctively put his right foot forward to stabilize himself and felt the pain shoot up his leg.

Two of the Russians picked him up by his arms and carried him to their vehicle. They threw him in them back and sped off.

Clay's worry intensified when they didn't head in the direction where his team was going. _'This is NOT good! Where are they taking me!?' _He said in his head.

**Jason's location.**

"Bravo two to Bravo one, we have a major problem." Jason heard over the radio. The urgency of Ray's voice was hard to miss.

"What's going on?" Jason asked. Trent and Sonny locked in to the radio waiting for Ray's reply.

"Bravo six went down. Doesn't appear severely injured, definitely hurt his leg somewhere, but uh… he's gone. They got him." Ray trailed off at the end.

"Say again Bravo two…?" Jason asked, not comprehending how that was possible.

"I sent him high. Kid stepped on a rock that came loose and went down. 15 men showed up out of nowhere and took him." Ray stated. "We gotta get to that location. They gotta be taking him there.

"Dammit." Jason cursed under his breath, before replying to Ray. "Alright, double time it the rest of the way up, but be careful." Jason emphasized on the be careful part.

"They got the kid?" Sonny asked, hoping he heard wrong.

Jason just looked at him and nodded. "We need to move."

**Clay's location.**

He was in the car longer than he would have liked. The longer drive meant being further away from Bravo, which meant it would take longer for them to find him. Not to mention, they were still heading to the original location, assuming that's where he was taken.

As the car came to a stop, he was roughly pulled out and drug through a door that was build into the wall. He was carried down a long hallway and dropped in in front of a man that had his back turned to him. As he looked up, the man turned around, causing Clay to become wide eyed. '_Oh fuck!' _Clay thought.

In front of him stood Yuri Petrov. Clay's heart sank. Whatever shit he was in before just became that much worse.

Yuri looked down at Clay, inspecting his appearance. He had a few cuts and bruises on his face, but they would heal. Blondish hair, blue eyes, in great physical shape: highly sought-after appearance to many of his buyers. Bullet proof vest with an American military patch: that'll triple what he would receive for just his appearance alone.

Yuri snapped a quick picture of him, wanting to get him on the market immediately, but has yet to say a word. He knew he wasn't here alone and whoever he was with would come looking for him. Luckily for him, this second location was extremely hidden, and only a select few know about it. It's the location where he hides out and keeps his 'high-valued prisoners.'

The other location, the one where Bravo was heading to was his original location. Yuri would occasionally pop in to check on things, but other than that, he was hardly ever seen. He also kept a majority of his 'prisoners' there.

Finally, after what felt like forever, Yuri spoke. "What is your name?" He asked in an extremely heavy accent.

Clay refused to answer which angered Yuri.

Yuri grabbed Clay under his chin, forcing Clay to look at him. "I know you speak English, now I asked you a question. What. Is. Your. Name?"

Clay still refused to answer. Instead he pulled his head back and out of Yuri's grasp. "Fuck off." He replied.

"Wrong answer." Yuri said calmly as he looked up to his men. "Get him out of my face. Take him to isolation."

Yuri's men promptly picked Clay up and as they began dragging him away, Yuri smirked and shouted out "See how long you stay quiet now."

Clay laughed inside. Clearly this guy had no idea that he was trained for situations like this. Situations that were created to break him and force him to talk. He just hoped he wouldn't have to suffer through it for too long before Bravo found him. In a way, he was actually a bit relieved to be being put in isolation rather than enduring some sort of physical torture.

That was until he was actually IN isolation. It was essentially a cement box with no windows and only a door. From what he gathered before the door what shut, it was only about 7 feet wide and 7 feet high. There was a small mattress, if you could even call it that, that looked more like a dog bed than a mattress, on the right wall. Other than that, there was nothing. Not a single thing, and it only got worse once the door closed. He couldn't see the hand in front of his face. It was so quiet, he swore he could hear the blood running through his veins.

He crawled on his hands and knees until he felt the 'mattress' and sat on it, tapping into his SERE training the best he could. They had prepared them for all sorts of situations, solitary confinement being one of them. However, in SERE, there had been lights and sounds. In here, all he had were his thoughts, and boy did his thoughts run wild.


	3. Chapter 3

Ray and Brock were the first to approach the target locations. They stayed a good distance away, in order to avoid being spotted, but were still close enough to know what they were up against.

"Bravo two to Bravo one, we've reached location. We got eyes on 4 men outside a rather large building. Appears to only be one way in and one way out." Ray radioed to Jason.

"Good copy, Bravo two. Hold steady until we arrive. We're about 4 mikes out." Jason relayed back.

"Copy Bravo one." Ray said as he returned to scanning the area for anything he or Brock might have missed.

About 3 minutes later, a vehicle pulled up outside the door, blocking Ray and Brock's potential shots to the men essentially guarding the door. "Dammit, I don't have a clear shot." Brock grumbled to Ray.

"I think that's the least of our worries. Look, those are the guys that took Clay, and Clay's not with them." Ray replied in a similar tone.

Brock looked closer at the men, recognizing 6 of the 15 men who had taken Clay. "Where's the rest of them? Why don't they have Clay?"

"I don't know, but something doesn't feel right. There-" Ray started to say as Jason came on over the radio.

"Bravo one to Bravo two, location reached. I'm seeing more than 4 men…" Jason said.

"Bravo one, they just pulled up. Something's off. We're headed towards your direction now." Ray said.

"Copy Bravo two." Jason replied as he waited for Ray and Brock to reach them.

**Clay's Location – Time in Isolation: Two hours**

The first hour, Clay did anything he could to help pass the time. He would talk to himself, sing any song that popped into his head, anything to try to make the time go by quicker. That only kept him occupied for a little bit though before he got bored, so he just sat there, on his bed, looking forward into the darkness, which was extremely eerie.

He started thinking about life outside of this hell hole. Thinking about how things could have possibly been different with Stella, why things with his father were at an all time low. Speaking of his father, would Ash even miss him if by some chance Bravo never found him. What if they never found him? Would they miss him? Would they move on and forget about him?

His mind ran wild and he became way more anxious than he otherwise would have been. He had no idea how long it had been or how much longer he would be in here.

With nothing else to do, he laid down. Laying down reminded him how cold he was. He had been stripped down to nothing but a t-shirt and his underwear. They were a little higher up on the mountain than the original target location, something he noticed by the snow on the ground before they forced him inside and despite being stuck inside a cement box, he could still feel a nip in the air.

As he began to shiver, he was reminded how sore he was. He was still convinced nothing was broke, but he knew he had to be covered in cuts and bruises. They were already beginning to form before he was thrown into this cement box. He wished there was some sort of light so he could see how much more prominent they became.

The next thing that popped into his mind was his ankle. It hurt like a bitch and the ONLY upside to being trapped in here was not having to put any weight on it. He ran his hands over it, trying to confirm his suspicions of nothing being broken, but didn't like what he found. His ankle felt huge and sore to the touch. There was nothing he could do for it from in here though.

Exhaustion finally kicked in and he let it take over, hoping that by the time he wakes up his team would be there to rescue him from this hell.

**Bravo's Location**

"What do you mean somethings off?" Jason asked Ray as he and Brock reunited with the rest of the team minus Clay.

"Those 6 guys just pulled up." Ray pointed to the guys standing by the vehicle. "They were there when Clay was taken."

"I thought you said there were 15 guys?" Trent asked.

"There were. That's why I think somethings off. Where are the rest of the 15? My guess, wherever we find them, we find Clay. There has to be another location." Ray said.

Jason thought about it for a moment. It made sense, but he had a hard time believing there could be a building somewhere else on the mountain. He also knew Ray was extremely adamant that there was another location and that's where Clay had to be.

"Havoc this is Bravo one." Jason radioed in.

"Go ahead Bravo one." Blackburn said over the radio, hoping for an update that they had found Clay.

"We're thinking there is a second location somewhere on the mountain. ISR pick anything up?" Jason asked.

Blackburn looked over to Davis who was searching through their video feed.

"We're looking now. What makes you think there's another location?" Blackburn asked.

This time it was Ray who responded. "Only 6 of the 15 guys who took Clay showed up here. Clay wasn't with them."

At that moment, Davis came back on the radio. "Bravo one, I'm not seeing any other buildings, but there does appear to be some movement a little higher up on the other side of the mountain."

Jason cursed and mumbled under his breath "Of course there is." He then radioed back in to command. "How far is it?"

"Approximately a day and half's hike, considering everything goes to plan." Davis replied.

"Requesting permission to head to that location." Jason asked.

"Permission granted, but only after this first location has been secured." Blackburn knew Jason wasn't going to like that answer.

"No offense sir, that's going to take some time. Time that Clay may not have. God only knows what they're doing to him up there or if this prick sold him already. You know how much he can get for someone like Clay!? They're not gonna sit on him, they're going to want to sell him as quick as possible." Jason was pissed.

"Understood, Bravo one. We'll keep an eye on the location, taking note of everyone that comes and goes. For now, your mission is to secure the current location." Blackburn said firmly, letting Jason know he was serious.

"He ain't letting us go?" Sonny asked annoyed.

"Not until this location is secured." Jason huffed. "Let's get a move on. We don't have time to waste. I want control of this building in no more than a half hour." Jason instructed. "The sooner it's ours, the sooner we can go get our man back."

**Hey guys. I'm glad you guys are liking this story. Just a little something different that popped into my head that I thought you all would like. Hope you all have a great day!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Yuri's Office**

Yuri sat down at his desk, eager to get Clay's photo online. The most he had ever gotten for someone was $20 grand. With Clay though, he expected to get at least $100 grand. He uploaded the photo to the dark web and started the bidding at $25 grand. He then decided to leave the bidding open for only 48 hours, rather than his usual 72. The quicker he could get him off the mountain the better, but he also didn't want to move too quick. Afraid that if he cut the bidding off too soon, he wouldn't make as much money.

**Command Center's Location**

Mandy came hauling ass into the control room after an intense interrogation with Andrei. "I've got something." She said eagerly as she pulled up a website on one of the open laptops.

"What is it?" Lisa asked.

"Andrei showed me where Yuri upload's the photos for his customers to bid. Said if he has our boy, it's only a matter of time until they upload his info." Mandy said as she quickly maneuvered her way through the dark web, searching for Clay.

Their hearts broke seeing how many people were actually listed for sale. They ranged from newborn babies who had been born into the life, all the way up to people presumed to be in their twenties and possibly early thirties.

"There are so many!" Lisa gasped, as Mandy continued searching for Clay. She made it through every page and profile looking for him, but Clay was nowhere to be found.

"Maybe they just haven't had time to upload him yet." Lisa suggested.

"It has only been a few hours since they've taken him. Just keep refreshing it. He has to pop up on there eventually." Blackburn instructed.

"How about the second location. Did you manage to get him to talk about that?" Lisa asked.

"Yeah. He said he knew about the location, but would only talk if we could make him a better deal. I told my boss. It's in his hands now." Mandy sighed out of frustration. "He's playing 'let's make a deal' with us."

"The only kind of deal that guy's getting is one that lands him in a prison cell the rest of his life." Mandy mumbled. "I'll make sure of that."

**Bravo's Location**

As Jason and the guys fought for control of the village, it became clear to them that they weren't getting out of here as quick as they had planned. It took a grand total 102 minutes for them to take down anyone who stood in their way. A lot longer than their initial 30-minute plan.

As they did so, they noticed how many people were being held prisoner there. There were literally people everywhere of every shape, size and color. Some older, some younger. Some healthy and others looking like they had been put through a ringer.

Their hearts sank. Not only for these people, but for Clay. Where ever they were keeping him, chances are, he was in a similar situation.

They couldn't just leave these people here, but they also couldn't take them with them to find Clay. The mountain was dangerous enough for them, and they were extremely experienced. These people though, they probably never did anything remotely close to trekking their way through a mountain.

All in all, there were about 77 people. Jason had called into Blackburn and sent pictures of each and every person while they waited for help to arrive. While waiting, Lisa went through each picture that was sent and matched them up with pictures on the site Mandy had showed them, meanwhile Mandy was still keeping an eye on the site, waiting for Clay's photo to pop up.

**Command Center Location**

"Alright Blackburn. I've managed to match all 77 photos Jason and guys sent over with photos online. 28 people are still unaccounted for." She trailed off.

"28? That's a lot of people still." Eric replied.

"That's not all. The ones that seem to be unaccounted for… they all have higher prices on their heads. They have to be at the second locat-" Davis was saying before she was cut off.

"I've got him!" Mandy shouted from her seat. "It's not good!"

Eric and Lisa quickly ran over to Mandy and stared at the computer screen. The first thing they noticed were the cuts and bruises on his face and arms.

"You think they did that to him?" Lisa asked, almost not wanting to know the answer.

"I doubt it. Probably happened during the fall." Eric answered.

Next, they noticed the details surrounding the photo. Starting bid: $25k, biding window: 48 hours. That meant they had 48 hours to get to the location and get their kid back.

"Mandy, keep an eye on it. If anything changes, let us know immediately." Blackburn ordered as he radioed into Jason.

**Bravo's Location.**

"Bravo one, this is havoc. Be advised we have new information. Bravo six has been uploaded to the bidding website. Time frame is only 48 hours." Eric stated.

"48 hours!? It's gonna take us almost that long just to get over there!" Jason stated.

"I suggest you get a move on it then. Back up to assist with the freed prisoners will be there any moment now. They'll be ok until they get there. Just move quick, but be careful!" Blackburn's voice sounded urgent which didn't help settle anybody's nerves.

"Only people taking pretty boy home is us! Now let's go him!" Sonny declared as he started making his way towards the new location.

**Clay's Location: Time in Isolation: Unkown**

Clay woke up with no sense of time. When he fell asleep, it was pitch black. When he woke up, it was pitch black. Was he asleep for a half hour? Was he asleep for 8 hours? He had no idea and there was no way to tell. It was extremely frustrating. It was at that moment that he realized that this was far worse than anything SERE could have prepared him for. He had no idea how long he was here, or how much longer he would be, but he could already tell he was starting to lose his mind.

As time continued to pass, he became more and more paranoid. He had completely convinced himself that no one would be looking for him and that he was either going to be stuck in here forever or until he was sold.

With nothing else to do and feeling completely out of touch with everything, Clay broke down and started to cry.

He wasn't even sure what he was crying about. Boredom? Being abandoned? Pain? Hunger? He had no idea, but he couldn't seem to make himself stop. The only thing he knew was that he was completely losing control of all of his emotions.

The crying had drained everything out of him. So much so that he literally cried himself to sleep even though he was sure he had only been awake for an hour or so.

**Yuri's Office**

Yuri stayed hunkered down in his office just keeping an eye on his computer screen. He has now had Clay in his possession for almost 20 hours. The bids on him took off immediately. Far quicker than Yuri had expected. In fact, he hit $100k around hour 17. This was going way better than he could have hoped for. If he was already at $100k at hour 17, he could only imagine how high the bids would be at hour 48.

He had thought about sending someone in to Clay's isolation cell with crackers and water. The guy had to be hungry and he had to try to keep him looking like he was still in great shape, but then he remembered how disrespectful Clay was to him when he was first brought in and thought about making him wait a few more hours.

By then the sensory deprivation should be kicking it up a notch and he might be able to get Clay to talk, or at least get him to tell him his name. Plus, the small amount of light that will enter the cell when he opens the door will be completely overwhelming. Decision was made. He was going to make him wait.

**Command Center Location**

Blackburn had left the room to get a few hours of sleep. He hated doing it, but none of them would be any good to Bravo or Clay without doing it.

After getting two hours of sleep, he walked back into the command room. "Any updates?"

"Nothing good. The bids are up to $116k and are showing no signs of slowing down." Mandy voiced in frustration. They had tried to find a way to shut the site down, but whatever they were using was making that next to impossible.

It could be shut down with time, but time wasn't on their side. It had been 27 since Clay was taken, leaving only 21 hours left before the bidding ended and Clay was potentially gone forever.

"What about Jason and the guys? They doing ok?" Blackburn asked after hearing the news about the bids.

"So far so good. They had a few tricky obstacles that needed to be maneuvered, but they managed to get through them with minimal delays. It's gonna be close, but if they can keep up this pace, they should be able to make it there before the 48 hours are up." Davis explained.


	5. Chapter 5

**Clay's Location – Time in isolation: 30 hours**

Clay was snapped out of his sleep by the sound of his door opening. He wasn't sure how to feel and that scared him. Was his 48 hours up and someone coming in to retrieve him to send to the buyer? Was it someone coming to torture him even more? Was it Bravo coming to rescue him? Since his emotions were so out of whack, whatever it was, caused him to panic.

Yuri poked his head in and shined a dull flashlight right into Clay's face.

Clay quickly scrunched his eyes shut and looked away. Just that small amount of light directly in his face, was more than he could handle.

Yuri walked over and forced Clay to look at him. Clay flinched at the touch. He had been deprived of just about all of his senses for the past 30 hours, although he had no idea it actually been, and was now being bombarded with sight, sound, smell, and touch.

"What is your name?" Yuri asked in a very calm voice.

Clay still refused to answer, although he wanted to. "If I tell you, will you let me out of here?" Clay's voice sounded broken. It was like music to Yuri's ears.

Yuri laughed. "I'd consider it." Knowing full well that he had no intentions of letting Clay out of isolation until he was sold and his buyer was here to retrieve him. He just hoped that Clay's senses were damaged enough to believe him.

Yuri's laugh sent up a red flag in Clay's mind. His senses were at an all time low, but they weren't completely broken. Not yet at least. Because of that, he still refused to give up his name. Instead he asked "How long have I been in here?"

Yuri grew frustrated. "Long enough for me to bring you a slice of toast. Here eat it." He held the toast up to Clay's face, but Clay turned his nose to it. He didn't trust it. In his mind, Yuri had done something to it that was going to make Clay regret eating it.

"Don't you ever turn your face away from me. If I tell you to eat, you eat!" He then roughly held Clay down and forced him to eat the toast.

Clay fought the entire time, but in his state of mind, was no match against Yuri.

Yuri then left, slamming the door behind him and leaving Clay alone in the darkness once again.

Once Yuri was gone, Clay took a turn for the worst. Just that small amount of interaction, although a negative interaction, left him begging for more. He wasn't sure how much longer he could take the darkness, the silence, the lack of any interaction.

He wanted to get up and pace, but his ankle wouldn't allow it. He managed to crawl over to the door and began pounding on it, begging for Yuri or anyone else to let him out, something he swore he would never do.

**Bravo's Location**

They were all exhausted, but they all refused to step to rest. If they did then they might not make their 48-hour deadline. They were already cutting it close.

Jason looked down his watch and afterwards wished he never had. It was now 2:38 in the morning. That meant they had just under 10 hours left to get to their destination, secure it and find Clay.

The upside to the new-found pressure of getting there in time was that it forced them all to kick up their pace a notch and also caused them to forget how tired they were.

The terrain was becoming more and more difficult to navigate and the temperature was dropping drastically. They were only prepared for the weather of the first location, which at this time of year, was around 55 degrees. Cold, but nothing extreme. Where they were headed now though, higher up on the mountain, temperatures were known to drop below freezing. Something they weren't dressed for.

"God, it's getting cold!" Brock hissed out.

Ray looked down at his watch, which just so happened to also tell the temperature. "Down to 42 degrees. Sunrise should be soon, and hopefully that'll warm it up a little." He was trying to be optimistic.

"How much higher do we have to go?" Sonny asked.

"Not too much higher. Mostly just level ground from here on out." Jason assured him. He knew Sonny was getting tired of climbing. They all were, so the fact that a majority of the rest of the hike would be horizontal rather than vertical was a godsend.

**Clay's Location**

Clay had fallen asleep sitting upright, leaning against the door, essentially begging for someone to let him out. The sensory deprivation had gotten to him and he had no idea how much more of it he could take. The fact that he was begging was proof enough of that. Clay was not a beggar. Never was, never planned to be. But this, what he was going through right now, Clay had no shame in begging.

He had woken up a short while later, or at least he thought it was a short while. In actuality, he had no idea how long he had been asleep. He found his way back over to his bed, crawling carefully on his hands and knees. He sat there once again and began to think. This time thinking about getting out.

He had basically convinced himself that no one was looking for him, so that if he was going to make it out of here alive, before being sold to some whack job, he was going to have to find a way to escape on his own.

Realizing he hadn't explored this box, even though it was extremely small and there wasn't much to explore, he carefully stood up. He used the wall to help keep him upright every time he put weight on his right ankle and carefully ran his hands along the wall, searching for anything. A covered window, a ladder, anything.

If he had been in his right frame of mind, he would have known there was nothing. He knew that from the moment they threw him in there when there was still a little bit of light before the door was slammed shut behind him. His 'right frame of mind' was long gone now.

He made it all the way around the room and found nothing except growing pain in his ankle. Knowing he needed to get off his feet, he sat back down on the mattress.

Each hour that passed by, his anxiety and paranoia would grow. He thought about things that otherwise, never would have entered his mind. Things like wondering if his dad was behind this whole 'kidnapping" or if Bravo secretly set it up so that they didn't have to deal with him anymore.

Speaking of Bravo, they were all probably home having a grand old time, not even thinking about him. Some brothers they were. He started feeling anger and resentment building up against them. But then a new thought entered his mind. _What if they were all killed trying to rescue him? Would their bodies be found? Would anyone tell their families? What was going to happen to Emma and Mikey? What about Ray's kids? Lisa would have a fit if she lost Sonny! They all knew they were basically a thing. Sonny even let it slip that she was going to OCS and told them not to say anything. Ehh, she's leaving us and going to OCS, she could care less about me or Sonny._

The thoughts ran wild. So wild that no one would believe those thoughts even entered his mind if he told them.

All the thinking eventually took its toll on him, and with nothing else to do, he laid his head back down and fell back asleep.

**Alright guys! Another chapter up. Things are going downhill for Clay, fast! Will Bravo be able to get to him in time before he's sold? How much will he be sold for? How much worse will he get with the sensory deprivation before he finally gets out? Anyway, thank you everyone for all the favorites and comments. I'm glad you guys are enjoying it as much as I'm enjoying writing it. Next chapter should hopefully be up tomorrow and I promise it'll be a bit longer than the other ones. It has to be for what I have planned ;)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Clays Location: Time in Isolation – 41 hours**

Clay was startled out of a deep sleep by the door being flung open and his father walking in.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" Ash asked with a sly smirk on his face.

Clay sat himself up against the wall, mind blown. "What the hell are you doing here? How'd you even get here?" He was so confused.

"I heard you were captured. You really think I'd miss the chance to gloat!? What was it you said to me? Oh Yeah, that right, 'you're erasing my footsteps.' You thought you could be better than me. Do better than I could. You're such a joke! I'm ashamed to even call you my son!" Ash bit out, all the while, laughing.

Clay was speechless, almost as if he had forgotten how to talk altogether. What his father said hurt like hell.

"Well sorry to be such a fucking disappointment to you, but you weren't exactly the best father either!" Clay spoke, finally finding his words. "Who knows, maybe if you would have actually been there for me, to support me and show me the ropes, I wouldn't be stuck in here!"

"Oh no. You being stuck in here has nothing to do with me so don't even try pulling that shit! That's all on you and your team! Where are they anyway? Just leaving you in here to be sold to god only knows who? Some brothers they are!" Ash laughed.

"You know what Ash? Just shut up. What kind of father flies halfway across the world to find his captured son and rub it in? Most would fly in to rescue them." Clay paused as a new thought dawned on him. "Wait a second, are you here to take me home!?"

"Yeah, of course, here let me help you up?" Ash said in a sarcastic tone that Clay couldn't puck up on and extended his hand.

Clay reached for his hand and Ash helped him up to his feet. As soon as Clay was on his feet, Ash quickly freed his hand, folding it around Clays neck and then shoved held him up against the wall.

Clay instinctively reached up and gripped around his fathers' arm, trying to loosen his fathers grip around his neck so that he could breathe. Any training he had before that would have helped him escape his fathers grip became non-existent.

Nothing he did loosened the grip and he began to panic. As a last-ditch effort, Clay started swinging punches at his father, missing more times than he connected. At one point, Ash ducked, and Clay's fist went straight into a wall causing a shooting pain up his arm.

Unable to free himself from Ash's grip, he felt himself passing out from lack of oxygen. Ash noticed and let go, allowing Clay to fall to the ground gasping for air. Ash headed for the door and right before walking out, turned around to look at his son. "Enjoy 'erasing my footsteps,' you're such a disappointment." That was the last thing he remembered before passing out on the ground.

**Yuri's Office**

Yuri's excitement continued to grow as the number of bids continued to go up. It wasn't often a member of the US military practically fell into his hands. It thrilled him, but at the same time, scared him.

The closer they came to the 48-hour mark, the more anxious he became. It was more of an exited anxiousness, but until this guy was no longer in possession and he had the money in his account, there was still a hint of nervousness.

He knew whoever this guy was here with was sure to have a team looking for him. He just hoped they remained unaware of his second location. Chances were, they were not only looking for their man, but for him too. He had no intentions of being caught.

Realizing it had been about 18 hours since he last 'fed' his prisoner, he decided to bring him something to eat again.

As he entered the room, he was surprised to see the guy laying in the opposite corner of his bed, with bloody and bruised knuckles on his right hand.

Yuri walked over and nudged the sleeping man and he didn't budge so he nudged harder. The second time, Clay started to stir. After a third nudge, Clay finally opened his eyes and looked up.

"Eat." Yuri ordered him.

"Not hungry." Clay mumbled, laying his head back down and closing his eyes, frustrating Yuri even more.

"Do you learn nothing!" Yuri shouted at him as he landed a hard kick to Clay's side.

The kick caught Clay off guard and reminded him of his tumble down the side of the mountain, ultimately leading to his capture. The one where Ray and Brock just watched and didn't even try to prevent it.

"Eat!" Yuri tried again. This time when Clay didn't respond, Yuri grabbed him by his hair, causing Clay to wince at the sudden movement and forced him to sit up. "When will you learn to do as you're told!?"

Yuri went to force the food down Clay's throat again when Clay stopped him. He had put a tight grip around Yuri's arm and prevented him from getting any closer. It was at that point that Clay realized that he could possibly overpower him.

In a last-ditch, adrenaline filled attempt to free himself, Clay stood up and attempted to over power Yuri. The plate Yuri was holding went flying and Clay landed a punch to his jaw.

The action infuriated Yuri. He returned a punch and then kicked at Clay's injured ankle, sweeping his feet from under him and forcing him back to the ground.

As Clay fell back down to the ground, Yuri continued kicking him, no longer concerned about what shape he was in as long as he wasn't dead.

"You stupid boy! I try to be nice, give you food and this is how you repay me!?" Yuri shouted, until he noticed Clay, who was bleeding and no longer protecting himself.

He stopped kicking and shouting and stared at the motionless man, pissed at himself for letting his anger get the best of him. He bent down, checking to make sure the man was still alive and was relieved to find he was still breathing, just passed out.

**Clays Location**

The next time Clay woke up, he was surprised to see the door cracked open and what looked like Sonny sitting in the corner just watching him.

"Sonny?" Clay asked confused.

"Yeah kid, it's me." Sonny sighed.

"What the hell man? Why you just sitting there? Where's the rest of the team?" Clay asked, sitting himself up against the wall.

"Oh, don't worry, they'll be here shortly." Sonny said.

Clay's confusion continued to grow.

"You know, when you first joined the team, I wanted nothing to do with you, and I mean nothing. I heard the stories about your dad, seen how you behaved during green team and I wasn't impressed. The day Jason picked you, I told him it was the biggest mistake he could have made and you know? I wasn't wrong. You've done nothing but question orders and disobey orders since you joined us. This team would be so much better without you." Sonny admitted, glad to finally get that off his chest.

Sonny's words were like a dagger straight to Clay's heart. Sonny was supposed to be his best friend so to hear what Sonny had to say really hurt. "So, if I'm such a terrible addition to the team, why did you guys come find me?"

"Oh, we didn't come here for you, we came for Yuri. You can rot in here for the rest of your life for all I care." Sonny hissed as he stood up and headed for the door.

Clay quickly stood up and stumbled to the door as Sonny slammed it shut. "Don't do this to me Sonny! You can't leave me in here like this! Sonny! Please don't do this! Please!" Clay pleaded as tears once again began to fall.

He punched the wall multiple times out of frustration and anger, not even caring how much it hurt anymore.

Hour 45 was when Clay hit his all time low. With nothing else to do, he kept replaying Ash and Sonny's conversations over and over in his head. He felt worthless and numb. He just wanted to be done with everything and everyone, feeling the will to live become less and less.

**Bravo's Location: Hour 47**

Afraid that they weren't going to make it to Clay in time, Bravo had picked up their pace. They were pleasantly surprised to reach the location with just under an hour to spare. As they approached the location, they noticed there was only two men guarding the door.

"Ray, Brock, I want you two to go over there and to take them out." Jason pointed to a tree line a little further to the right. "

Ray and Brock nodded then proceeded to make their way over to the tree line and waited for Jason to give the go-ahead. As soon as he did, the two simultaneous shots instantly took out the two guards.

"Alright, lets go get our boy back!" Jason stated as they all made their way towards the entrance, not knowing what to expect inside and praying they would find their youngest member alive and intact.

They knew Yuri had every intention of selling the kid. Because of that, they knew he would keep Clay alive. What they didn't know is what kind of torture they would put Clay through in the meantime.

They all had their suspicions, ranging from waterboarding to whips to a good old-fashioned beat down.

Trent was glad he had packed extra medical equipment for this mission. He had a feeling he was going to need it due to the difficult terrain they were going to face. He didn't expect to need it for someone getting captured though. He just hoped he packed enough to be able to treat whatever they did to Clay.

As they walked through the doors, they were surprised to find no one. Not a single person. Just two long hallways headed in separate directions, with doors lining both sides.

It was an eerie feeling. It was dark, lined with dim lights along the floor. It reminded Sonny of the lights in movie theaters. They also couldn't help but notice how cold it was. Nowhere near as cold as it was outside, but definitely colder than they expected for being 'indoors.'

"Where is everyone?" Sonny whispered. "Think it's a setup?"

"I don't know. Possible." Jason replied. "Just keep an eye out."

"Alright boss, what's the plan?" Trent asked. "There's a lot of doors. Yuri and Clay could be behind anyone of them."

"We find Yuri first. He'll know where Clay is." Jason replied.

"You think he'll talk?" Ray asked.

"He will if he wants to live." Jason barked.

He then had Ray, Trent and Brock go down the right hall, while he and Sonny went left. At the end of the left hallway, Jason and Sonny noticed a door that was slightly different than the rest.

They made eye contact, almost like they were reading each other's minds. Jason the quietly radioed to Ray, telling them he needed them to rejoin the group because they had possibly located Yuri.

"God only knows what's inside that door Jase." Sonny whispered.

"That's why were waiting for the rest." Jason answered.

Before they knew it, Ray Trent and Brock had rejoined the pack and they prepared to breach the door. Once the door was blown off, gunfire began to erupt from inside.

They promptly began returning fire while trying their best not to get shot. As soon as the gunfire died down and they were able to enter the room, they found Yuri, shot but still alive, for now.

They ran over to him. Trent instantly put pressure on his wound to slow the bleeding while Jason started yelling in his face. "Where is he!? Huh!? Tell us where he is!?"

Trent started pulling medical supplies out of his bag with one hand while still holding pressure on the gunshot wound with the other. "Trent, stop!" Jason ordered.

"Jase, he's gonna die if I don't." He started to say before Jason cut him off.

"He's gonna die anyway. Save it for the kid, we don't know what kind of condition he's gonna be in."

Ray took a step back as flashbacks of Mexico popped back in his head. The situations were different. There was no priest here and Yuri wasn't begging for last rights, but it still brought him back to that night. "Jase come on man, let Trent help him."

"Not until he tells me where Clay is!" Jason hissed as he glared at Yuri, not once taking his eyes off him.

Yuri laughed. He knew he was dying. "Have fun finding him." He coughed out, right before closing his eyes for good.

"Shit." Jason cursed under his breath. Not only had Yuri died when they were supposed to bring him in alive, but now they had to open every single door until they found Clay, and there were a lot of doors. He just hoped Clay would be behind one of them and not being held somewhere else because it was going to take quite a bit of time to get through all those doors. If Clay wasn't behind one of them, they would be wasting precious time.

Jason finally stood up, realizing everyone was looking at him, waiting to hear what they're next move would be. He looked around and realized Yuri had a key ring clipped to his belt loop. He grabbed it and split the keys between the five of them, each guy having between 8-10 keys. "The keys have to open those doors out there and Clay has to be behind one of them. I want every door opened until we find him!" Jason ordered as they quickly got to work trying to match keys with doors.

**Alright guys. Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Sorry it took a little longer than expected. I had most of the chapter written and then it somehow got deleted without saving so I had to start over. Hope you're all still enjoying it :)**


	7. Chapter 7

Matching the keys with the doors was a lot harder than they expected it to be. It took 20 minutes just to match one key with a door and what they found inside was a completely empty room.

"This is a fucking waste of time! Clay's out there, God only knows where, and we're wasting our time in here matching keys with doors that don't have anything behind them!" Sonny yelled in frustration.

"We don't know that brother." Ray says calmly. "There's a ton of other doors-"

"And what if he's not behind one them Ray! Then we just wasted all that time, when we could have been out there looking for him!" Sonny cut Ray off as frustration started to boil over.

"And what if he is behind one of them!?" Ray fired back. "Huh? What if he is behind one and we gave up opening doors because we opened one and it was empty!?

"Alright, that's enough! We're staying until every door is open, understood!?" Jason jumped in.

Sonny and Ray both kept their mouths shut and silently agreed, getting back to matching keys with doors.

Almost an hour later 3 more doors had been open. All three were empty.

Jason could see Sonny's frustration starting to boil over and Ray beginning to question whether or not Clay really was behind one of the doors.

It wasn't until they opened the 6th door that they found someone. It was a young girl, roughly in her early teens and scared to death. She spoke no English and panicked at the sight of the large American men surrounding her.

No one was fluent in Russian, but they all knew a few words. They tried to reassure her everything was ok and that they were there to help and not to hurt her, but either she didn't understand or didn't fully believe them.

Jason had snapped a picture of the girl and sent it to Davis to see if it matched any of the remaining people from the website.

When Lisa confirmed that she was in fact on the website, they knew Clay had to be here somewhere.

Brock stayed with the girl, trying to gain her trust while the rest continued looking for Clay.

As more doors became opened, and keys narrowed down, they started to match keys with doors quicker.

Six more people had been found, 4 of them had ben Americans who spoke English while the other two did not.

Seeing how the 4 Americans seemed to be at ease and grateful to be rescued, the other 3 victims who did not speak English seemed to relax a bit.

There was a rather large opening in the hallway, right where the two halls separated, where they gathered everyone who had been rescued. Brock had traded places with Trent to allow Trent to evaluate those they had found.

"How are they?" Jason asked a short time later as he was walking by and pulled Trent aside.

"Not great, but not terrible. They're all very dehydrated. The younger ones that don't speak the language won't let me anywhere near them, but from what I can tell, they're covered in bruises, some in the shape of handprints and a few cuts. There could be more, but I don't know. The other ones, the Americans, they let me close, but they're shut down, almost like they're not even acknowledging that I'm there. When I ask questions they don't answer, when I ask them to lift an arm or turn around to let me get a better look, they hesitate, but comply." Trent answered.

"And the ones that let you touch them, how bad are they?" Jason questioned.

Trent shrugged. "They're pretty beat up and traumatized. None of them are talking though to know what happen-"

"I got him!" Sonny yelled, stopping everyone in their tracks. "Trent, get over here now!"

Everyone went running, stopping at the door Sonny yelled from.

Inside they found Sonny, crouched down next an unconscious, bloody and bruised Clay.

"It's ok buddy, we're here, we got you." Sonny whispered while gently nudging Clay's shoulder.

"Watch out Sonny, let me in." Trent said gently, knowing he needed to get in there to evaluate just how bad Clay was. Sonny scooted to the site, staying by Clay's side, but still allowing Trent enough room to do what needed to be done.

Trent checked his pulse and respirations first. He was satisfied with the results, but not entirely happy.

"Talk to me Trent, what's going on?" Jason asked anxiously.

"Pulse seems steady, but his respirations are a little irregular." Trent said before beginning to evaluate everything else.

"Irregular how?" Sonny asked.

"A little quicker than I'd like, occasionally too shallow, but not enough for me to be overly concerned just yet." Trent said, settling everyone's nerves just a tad.

"What about the rest of him?" Jason asked.

"I'm trying to figure that out now. Here, help me carefully sit him up so I can get a better look." Trent said.

Sonny carefully helped Trent pull Clay to an upright sitting position so that he could get a better look at Clay's injuries. As they were doing so, Clay slightly opened his eyes.

"Hey, wait a second, he's waking up." Jason announced, noting Clay's eyes slightly open.

"Clay, look at me, it's Trent." Trent gently tapped on Clay's cheek, careful to avoid some of the bruising that had formed.

Clay turned his head away, trying to escape the tapping on his face.

"Easy man, it's ok. It's just Trent." Sonny whispered.

At the sound of Sonny's voice, Clay looked up, glaring at Sonny. "There you are, bud. We got you, you'll be ok."

"Just go." Clay mumbled under his breath, taking everyone by surprise.

"What?" Sonny asked confused.

"Leave, get out." Clay stated a little louder this time. His voice sounded completely defeated.

"We are leaving, but not without you." Jason jumped in.

Clay looked at Jason, but then instantly back over to Sonny. "Did you get Yuri?"

"Yeah, kid we got him, he can't hurt you anymore." Sonny answered.

"So, then why'd you come back for me?" Clay asked.

Everyone was confused by the question and didn't know how to answer him. Why on earth would Clay ever question why they came for him. They would never even consider leaving him behind.

"What do you mean? We will always come back for you, you know that." Sonny replied, almost hurt that the kid would even think they'd leave him behind.

"You said you weren't here for me, that you came for Yuri and Yuri only, and that I could rot in here for the rest of my life for all you cared." Clay shared, still hurt by 'Sonny's words.

"Clay, what in God's name are you talking about?" Sonny asked.

Trent stood up and pulled Jason aside.

"What's up? Why's he talking like that? Concussion?" Jason asked Trent.

"A concussion's possible, but I think there's much more to it." Trent started.

"How much more?" Jason was growing more and more concerned.

"Based off my observations with the others and the room we found him in." Trent paused.

"Spit it out Trent, what's wrong with him?" Jason was becoming frustrated.

"Have you ever heard of sensory deprivation?" Trent asked.

"Yeah, of course, but what would that have to do with the way he looks and is talking? There's clearly been some sort of touch going on. Have you not noticed him covered in cuts and bruises?" Jason wasn't understanding.

Trent was now the one growing frustrated, with Jason not letting him finish. "Will you let me finish before you interrupt me again, please!?"

"Sorry. Go ahead." Jason apologized.

"Ray and Brock said he rolled and then fell down the mountain which is how they got separated. I'm sure some of the bruising and cuts came from that. But those people out there, they're terrified, they won't speak, don't want to be touched, squinting at a dim light. I tell them one thing and they forget I even told them-"

"What's that hav-" Jason started to interrupt before the look on Trent's face told him to shut up. "Sorry, continue."

"All those things Jason, they're signs of sensory deprivation. Clay is also showing signs, just not the same as them. Did you notice his right hand?" Trent asked.

Jason shook his head no, he was too busy studying the kids bruised face and trying to figure out if he was alive.

"He hit something, and not just once, whether it was the wall or another person. Whatever it was though, clearly did some damage. He's confused talking about how Sonny was there and told him he could rot in there. We know that's not true, but to Clay it is."

"How is that even possible though?"

"With sensory deprivation, everything's in your mind. You start doubting yourself, then others, essentially you start going crazy and eventually start hallucinating."

"You think he was hallucinating?" Jason asked.

"I do, that's the only logical explanation I can think of for him believing Sonny would ever say that."

"Dammit, so what do we do? How long will it take till he's back to normal?"

"I don't know Jase. I've never actually had to deal with it, but from what I've heard, some people bounce back pretty quick, others… not at all. I guess it all really depends on how long he was in here and how deprived he really was."

Jason ran his hands through his hair trying to think and process everything. "Alright, we'll deal with that later, what about his other physical injuries?"

"Hand is definitely broken. There's no denying that, Ankle is pretty swollen as well. Ray said something about him hurting it in the fall, but until he has x-rays I can't tell if it's just a bad sprain or if there's a break. He's got some pretty extensive bruising throughout his body, but like his ankle, I can't tell if anything's actually broken or just extremely sore. I suspect there's a concussion, but with everything else going on, who knows." Trent began explaining until they were interrupted.

"Guy's, Sonny needs you now!" Ray popped out of the room with a tone of urgency.


	8. Chapter 8

**First of all, I wanted to apologizing for taking so long updating this chapter. I had it half written, then had friends/ family visit, then 'paradise lost' aired and ever since I've had a hard time finishing this. Anyway, I tried my best, and even though I'm not entirely happy with how this chapter turned out (I'd probably never be satisfied with it), I wanted to get it posted. I hope you still enjoy it. **

Jason and Trent rushed back into the room where they found Clay, who had himself basically cowered into the corner, not wanting anyone to come near him.

"What happened?" Trent asked, slowly trying to approach Clay.

"I don't know, he was doing ok and then he just snapped. Keeps saying we're not really here, that Sonny's gonna leave him, that he deserves to be left, he's making no sense." Ray answered. "Sonny tried to prove to him that we are really here and that we would never leave him behind, but he won't let us near him."

"Alright." Trent said gently, knowing they weren't going to like what he said next. "I hate to do this, but I need you all to empty the room."

"What?"

"Why?"

"No way!" They all protested.

"Listen, he's gone through almost two full days of sensory deprivation, except for maybe a few unfriendly encounters. It might not sound like a terrible thing, but from what I heard, it only takes a few short hours to start going crazy. My guess, right now, he's overwhelmed and confused."

"About what?" Sonny interrupted while not taking his eyes off of Clay.

"Basically, my guess, sensory overload. The light, the sound, touch, sight, all of it. He can't tell what's real and what's not. To him, Sonny was here and said he was going to leave him. Now, we're all here saying we're taking him home. He can't process in his mind which one is real and which one is not…"

"What do you mean he can't process it? How long will that last? Is it permanent?" Ray asked becoming concerned.

"Look guys. I don't have all the answers right now, but he's clearly overwhelmed. Just give a couple minutes alone with him to try and calm him down and get through to him." Trent began to get annoyed. Normally when he stepped into medic mode, they didn't ask questions. He understood why they were today, but he still didn't like it.

Reluctantly, they all agreed and exited the room, standing right outside the door.

Trent slowly approached Clay, who was still hugging his knees in the corner. "Hey bud." Trent said softly as he sat next to Clay.

Clay looked up at him cautiously, with tears in his eyes. "Trent?"

"Yeah buddy, it's me." Trent answered.

"I don't know what's wrong with me." Clay sobbed while looking away from Trent, embarrassed that he was crying in front of him.

"I know kid. It's ok. We're here. We're ALL here, and we aren't leaving without you. That I can promise you." Trent replied.

Clay nodded his head as the tears began to fall a little harder.

"Clay look at me. What ever you're going through, we're gonna get through it together. Ok?"

Clay once again nodded his head.

"Can you tell me what on your body hurts?" Trent asked, curious if he missed anything.

"Everything." Clay responded.

"I believe that." Trent said honestly. Based on the amount of bruising and cuts, he had to be hurting all over. "But what hurts the most?"

"My hand, my ankle, my head and my sides."

"Yeah, I bet." Trent wasn't happy about the amount of painful areas, but he was relieved that it seemed like there wasn't a more serious injury hiding out somewhere, although the possibility wasn't completely out of question. "I'm gonna give you something for the pain, okay?"

Clay was a bit hesitant, afraid it would only confuse him even more.

Trent could sense the hesitation in Clay, but before he could respond, Jason popped his head in. Trent held up a finger and mouthed "one minute."

Jason rolled his eyes and then disappeared from view.

"Listen Clay, we need to start getting ready to head out to exfil. We can take the vehicles here and travel on the path they made, but its gonna be very bumpy and painful. Let me give you something. I promise it'll be ok."

After taking a minute to decide, Clay finally accepted to take the pain meds.

"Alright. Good. I'm gonna call Jason in. He has some of the meds I want to give you. Is that ok?"

"That's fine." Clay whispered.

Trent called Jason and he immediately appeared, followed by the rest of the team. "Just Jason." Trent commented.

"What's up? He gonna be ok?" Jason asked.

"He want's pain meds for the way to exfil." Trent winked at Jason.

Jason was confused for a second. They all carried a small dosage of pain meds in their gear so why did Trent need his. Then it dawned on him that Trent wanted to double the dosage to knock the kid out. "Yeah, no problem, hear you go."

"Thanks." Trent smiled and then administered the drugs.

It wasn't long until the drugs kicked in, forcing Clay into a nice deep sleep.

Once they were sure Clay was out Jason started firing off the questions. "You think he'll be ok? Why'd you double dose him? "Is he that bad?"

"Relax Jason. I double dosed him more for us than for him. He's not fully there in his mind. The last thing we need is for him to freak out on our way to exfil or on the helicopter."

Jason didn't know how he felt about Trent's decision, but he understood it. Trent never did anything without a good reason behind it, so rather than argue about why he did it, Jason dropped the subject.

They had called the rest of the team into the room to help them carry Clay to one of the vehicles outside. On their way out Sonny asked "What about them?" Looking at the others that they had rescued.

"Blackburn has members of the local military on their way up to help with them. They should be here any minute." Jason answered.

None of the locals, including the military had been willing to step foot onto the mountain until now. It took a little convincing and proof that Yuri was in fact dead, but they eventually agreed.

As soon as they got Clay into the vehicle, the local military showed up.

"Well ain't that perfect timing." Sonny commented as Jason walked over to the leader of the group. After explaining what they found, Jason hopped into the passenger side of the vehicle and they carefully made their way to exfil.

Once they made it to their exfil locations, the on-board medics were there waiting. They carefully helped Bravo transfer Clay from the vehicle to the helicopter and then began their own evaluations of him while listening to Trent's theories.

"How long has he been out?" One of the medics asked Trent.

"Not too long ago, maybe about 45 minutes. I drugged him up just enough to knock him out until we could get him to a hospital. Seems to me like he had some pretty vivid hallucinations and was having a hard time telling the difference between what was real and what wasn't, causing him to freak out and panic. I didn't want him doing any more damage to himself. How's he looking?" Trent answered.

The medic shrugged. "He'll be alright. Basically, everything you said is the same as what we found. X-rays and scans will show anything we missed, but I don't see why he wouldn't make a full recovery."

Trent felt relieved. He had known based on his own observations that Clay would eventually be fine, but hearing it from someone who had even more of a medical background than he did made him feel a lot better. He was still a bit concerned about the psychological aspects of the situation, but he would cross that bridge once they came to it. For now, all he was concerned about were the physical injuries.

As they arrived to the base hospital, Clay was whisked away by even more doctors, leaving the team to wait around in the waiting room.

Jason looked around at his team, and became a bit concerned about both Sonny and Ray. They seemed to be taking this much harder than the rest of them. He walked over to where Ray was sitting alone on the far side of the room. "Talk to me Ray. What's running through your mind?"

Ray sighed, contemplated telling Jason the truth or not and then looked up to him. "I separated him from us Jay. I knew how dangerous that mountain was and I still sent him off alone."

"Ah shit Ray. You had to. Anyone of us would have done the same thing, Clay included. You k-" Jason started saying before Ray interrupted him.

"That's not even the worst part. The worst part was watching them take him and not being able to do a damn thing about it. We were right there, close enough to easily make the shots to take them out and we couldn't do it. Not without ruining the entire mission and putting him in even more danger." Ray was now on the verge of tears with guilt.

"Ray look at me. I would have done the same exact thing. You made all the right calls, it was just a shitty outcome, nothing you can do about it now." Jason paused for a minute. "We got him Ray. We got Yuri. He's dead. That might not have happened if they didn't take Clay."

"And that's supposed to make me feel better?" Ray started getting agitated.

"Yeah. It is supposed to make you feel better. We got Clay back too. He's going to be fine." Jason said.

"Is he Jace? Is he going to be fine? We don't know that for sure yet. I seen him after he fell, before they took him. He didn't have nearly that many cuts and bruises on him. We have no idea what he went through before we found him. I'm sure he'll be fine physically, but what about mentally? That we can't know yet and that's what concerns me."

Jason sat back, realizing the only thing that was going to make Ray feel better was seeing Clay awake and being able to talk to him. "We'll get him there Ray, we'll get him there." Until then he just had to give Ray some space. He stood up and started making his way over to his next concern.

Jason stood next to Sonny, who now stood with his back against the wall, arms crossed and dead focused on the wall in front of him. When Sonny didn't acknowledge Jason next to him, Jason nudged him with his elbow and told him to follow him down the hall.

Jason led Sonny to a small 'kitchen' room that was down the hall from the waiting room. They sat down at the small, round table and when Sonny refused to say anything, Jason decided to speak up.

"What's going on Sonny?" Jason asked.

Sonny shook his head as he tried to find his words. Jason could easily tell he was fighting back tears, something that he hardly seen with Sonny. Sonny was one of the more emotional members of the team, but he hid it well. He never cried. Instead, he turned those emotions into motivation. Seeing how Yuri was killed and the mission was complete, Sonny had nowhere to throw his emotions too. He now had to face them head on.

"Sonny?" Jason asked again.

"I don't- How could he possibly think I would EVER leave him there Jace?" He questioned as he wiped a tear from his cheek. "I would never and he knows that! He knows it!"

"Sonny, we don't know everything he went through in there. Trent said it was obvious he was hallucinating. A lot of what he said didn't make sense. I'm sure once he see's you again he'll be fine."

"I don't know about that Jace. You didn't see him. He was generally pissed off at me. Wanted nothing to do with me, didn't want to see me. That's what hurt the most, man. And then for him to say that he deserved to be left there? What did they do to him!?" This time Sonny completely broke down, no longer able to fight the tears as he kept replaying that moment over and over again in his head.

Jason had no words. He knew how close Clay and Sonny were. He knew this had to be extremely hard on Sonny. Hell, it was hard on all of them, but it was Sonny that Clay hallucinated about, so it was Sonny who Clay lashed out at.

"What if he doesn't want to see me?" Sonny asked, as he started to calm down.

"Come on Sonny, you know you're gonna be the first person he wants to see. He was confused at the time. You know-"

Before Jason could finish his sentence, there was a knock at the door and Brock popped his head in.

"Doctors here with an update on Clay, figured you guys would want to hear it." Brock said.

Sonny and Jason both jumped up out of their seats and the three of them hurried back to the waiting room.

"Alright Doc, what's the damage?" Jason asked

"We did some x-rays and ran a few other tests. As suspected, he does have a concussion. Grade 3 to be exact. He doesn't have an extensive history with head injuries so with proper rest, he should recover just fine from it. His left shoulder was dislocated so we popped it back into place. There are a few cracked ribs, but none of them broke. They will no doubt be sore for quite a bit. He has what we call a 'boxers' fracture' in his right hand. We casted it from just below his finger tips up to his elbow to keep it completely immobile while it heels. As for his ankle, he does have a bimalleolar equivalent fracture. Basically, the ligaments on both the inside and outside of his ankle are so injured that the entire ankle itself becomes unstable."

"So, what's that mean doc?" Jason asked.

"It means there's good news and bad news."

"Hit us with the good news first." Blackburn replied.

"The good news is, he'll only need surgery on the ankle. The bad news… it's a pretty complicated surgery with no room for error. We have to make sure everything is perfectly aligned. Even the slightest mis-alignment could result in early ankle arthritis which would only get worse with time."

"How early?" Sonny asked. "Immediately, weeks, months, years?"

"Difficult to say. Could be any of those. We're hopeful it won't come to that." The doctor replied.

"When will we know? How long does it take?" Jason asked.

"Well, that's the thing. We won't be doing the surgery here."

"Excuse me, what? Why not?" Jason began getting angry.

"Like I said, it's a complicated surgery, and due to the amount of swelling and bruising, the surgery becomes even more complicated."

"So what? We just wait for the swelling to go down?" Trent ask sarcastically.

"Actually, Yeah. Typically, the swelling goes does within a day or two. Just enough time for you guys to fly home and for someone who specializes in this type of surgery to take a look at it."

Jason ran a hand through his hair. The stress of the situation starting to get the best of him. "Is that ok? Will waiting add any further complications?"

"It won't. We have it heavily wrapped and casted. The only way to make it worse would be if someone physically tried."

"Ok good. That's good. What about his mental state?" That was the question everyone was most worried about.

"Unfortunately, we don't know. He is still under the effects of sedation. He had woken up right before I came to give you guys the update, but he wasn't very alert. He just kind of looked around the room and then went back to sleep."

"Can we see him?" Ray asked.

"You can for a few minutes. He needs to rest and we need to prepare him for the flight."

"Perfect, a few minutes is all we have." Blackburn spoke up sensing the protests that were about to come.

"What do you mean that's all we have?" Jason glared.

"We have a flight to prepare for. If we're all going to be on it with Clay, then we need make sure we're all ready to head out."

They knew Blackburn was right. They still had to do a quick debrief, pack up their stuff and load the plane. They were going to do whatever was necessary to be on the flight with Clay. No way were they going to let him fly home alone.

**I just wanted to apologize again for such a long wait with this chapter. All inspiration had left me and each time I sat down to write I came up with nothing. Like I said, I'm still not entirely happy with how this chapter turned out but I wanted to get it posted. I promise the next chapter won't take as long. It's already mostly written. Just need to add a few more things to finish it up. Anyway, sorry again and I hope you enjoy.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Im Back! Sorry it took so long to update. I swear I didn't forget about it, just had a lot going on. Moved back up north, started a new job, had some major roommate issues, broke up a dog fight and had to get quite a few stitches and to be honest lost a little bit of inspiration for this story. But don't worry. I only lost interest because I had other ideas that I liked better pop into my head. I even started writing two other fics. This story will have one, maybe two more chapters left. Then whichever of the other two I finish first, will be posted next. :)**

As soon as they landed back in Virginia Beach, there were medics and an ambulance waiting to take Clay to the hospital where they had doctors who specialized in this type of ankle surgery. It was just under 45 minutes away As much as everyone on Bravo wanted to go with him, they knew stuff still needed to be done so they decided Trent would be the one to go with Clay so that he wouldn't be alone. The rest of the team would meet them at the hospital as soon as they could.

Sonny really wanted to be the one to go with Clay, but declined the offer and suggested Trent be the one to go instead. Although they still had Clay sedated, he knew the sedation was close to wearing off and he didn't want to take the chance of Clay waking up and possibly freaking out again. Besides, Trent knew Clay's medical history better than he did so if any of the doctors had questions, Trent would be the one able to answer them.

Trent, as well as the rest of the team were really surprised when Sonny opted to stay behind. Normally he would fight them to be the one able to go. It was in that moment that they realized just how much Clay's little freak out had affected Sonny. As Trent left with Clay, and the rest of Bravo began unpacking the plane, Jason pulled Sonny to the side to talk with him.

"You know he doesn't really blame you right? He knows you would never leave him behind." Jason said to Sonny.

"I don't know Jace. You didn't see him right away. That look he had in his eyes; it was clear as day that he wanted nothing to do with me. I've never seen him look like that before." Sonny replied, his voice almost sounding broken.

"You can't let that get to you. Not after what he went through. The Clay we found wasn't the Clay we all know. God only knows what was going through his mind. Trent said he was having a hard time deciphering what was real and what wasn't. Just give him some time. I'm sure you'll still be the first one he wants to see after his ankle surgery." Jason said, hoping to get through to Sonny.

Sonny thought about Jason's words for a few seconds. "And what if we don't get the old Clay back Jace? Huh? What if he doesn't want to see me, or his ankle doesn't heal properly, or he…"

Jason cut him off before he could continue. "We can play the 'what if' game all damn day Sonny, but it's not going to change anything. We gotta stay positive for him. You know Clay probably better than any of us. When have you ever seen him give up on anything? To back away from a challenge. He WILL be ok. I don't care what we have to do or how long it takes, we're going to do everything in our power to make sure he knows we're always gonna be there for him and push him through this tough time until he's able to make it back to us. Got it?" Jason was hoping he managed to get through to Sonny.

Sonny knew Jason was right about being there for Clay and pushing him to come back. At the same time, he's seen others suffer less and never make it back. He know's Clay is stronger than those guys, but hes still afraid this might be too much for him to handle. As strong as Clay is he's still human. There's only so much hurt and pain and suffering he can go through before he walks away from it and given how many times Clay has been injured, he cant help but wonder how much more Clay can handle. He can't voice those fears to Jason though. Like Jason said, they have to stay positive, so that's what Sonny's gonna try to do.

/

Trent was sitting in the ambulance with Clay, going over charts with the medics when he noticed Clay slowly start to stir. "Clay. Hey! Can you hear me?" He asked, standing up so Clay could see him.

Clay stirred some more before slowly opening his eyes. He slowly looked around, studying the unfamiliar surrounding and wondered if he was still being held captive. Finally, his eyes locked on Trent. The looks on Clay's face during that first eye contact was a look Trent will never forget. It was a look of confusion, pain, and at the same time relief.

Although he was awake, Clay was still not completely with it. He was still under the affects of the sedation, resulting in his movements to be super slow, he was in a good amount of pain, the lights were bright and there was so much noise that his head began to pound. Along with his pounding head, he felt his heart starting to race, which just cause more noise as the heart monitor he was connected to started to beep louder and faster. If he wasn't so tired, sore and slow moving he would have most definitely been able to make it all stop, however, any attempt he made was hampered by his sluggish movements. Upon locking eyes with Trent, despite trying to keep control of his emotions, the overwhelming feeling just became too much and the tears started flowing.

The sight of Clay crying was too much for Trent to handle and he as well, lost the battle over controlling his emotions. He grabbed Clays uncasted hand and held it tight. "We got you Clay. Don't worry. Just let it all out okay? There's no shame in crying. We're gonna get you all taken care of. I promise." Trent sobbed before Clay attempted to start talking.

"Tr'nt" Clay slurred in a low whisper. "Loud."

For a second Trent didn't understand what Clay was referring to. It really wasn't all that loud in here. There were no sirens, the medics weren't talking very loudly, the only real sound Trent heard was the beeping of the heart monitor connected to Clays racing heart. Then Trent remembered Clay had just spent a little over two full days in almost complete isolation. He had been so focused on Clays physical injuries that he had almost forgotten about the sensory overload Clay must be experiencing right now.

Before Trent could do anything to help, the ambulance came to a stop and the driver announced they were at the hospital. The doors of the ambulance were opened and they were greeted by doctors waiting to take Clay. They tried to tell Trent he couldn't go with them, but after the obvious shear panic that Clay exhibited, they decided it would be best for Trent to join them while they prepped Clay for surgery.

Once Clay was all prepped for surgery, one of the nice, young nurses escorted Trent to the waiting room where he had to wait alone, with just his thoughts, until the rest of Bravo arrived. He couldn't get the look on Clay's face out of his head. He couldn't get Clay breaking down and crying out of his head either. The more he thought about it, the more the tears flowed.

He wanted to call Jason, or Blackburn, or anyone at this point to give them an update and let them know they've taken Clay back for surgery, but every time he composed himself enough to even think about calling, he would lose it all over again.

All in all, Trent only had to wait by himself for a little over an hour. As he noticed his brothers walking towards him, he quickly pulled himself together. He didn't want them to see him worried. They all knew if Trent was worried then things were definitely not good. Unfortunately, they caught him red eyed and sniffly.

"What happened?" Eric asked before anyone else could get words out.

"He's okay. They took him back for surgery about an hour ago." Trent tried to deflect the question, not wanting to tell them about the kids break down. Not yet at least. The rest of the team didn't seem to be taking the hint that he didn't want to talk about it yet.

"Nope. Something else happened. What was it, Trent?" This time it was Jason asking the questions.

"He woke up in the ambulance." Trent admitted, not sure how much to reveal. "He was understandably overwhelmed by everything."

"How bad is he?" Sonny asked.

Trent shrugged. "I honestly don't know. This isn't familiar territory for me. I do, however, believe it's something we can get him over, with time. I just couldn't tell you how long."

"It doesn't matter how long. We're gonna be there for him. Whatever he needs until he's Clay again." Ray chimed in this time.

With that being said, they all took a seat, silently leaning on one another and waiting for any kind of update on their youngest brother.


	10. Chapter 10

To everyone on Bravo, Clays surgery felt like it took forever, but in reality, it was only a couple of hours. When the nurse finally came out with an update, they were all anxiously awaiting the news.

"How did it go?" Trent was the first to speak up.

"We believe the surgery went well. There was a bit more damage than we had originally expected, making it a little more complicated, but we do believe it was successful and that he should make a full recovery without any future complications. He is being moved to a room as we speak and as soon as we get him all settled in, I will come get you guys and take you up. Sound good?" The kind nurse asked.

"Sounds great. Thank you, ma'am." This time it was Blackburn with the reply.

After about twenty minutes went by, the nurse returned to bring them to Clays room. As soon as they stepped off of the elevator and onto Clays floor, Trent immediately looked around. "Is this the floor he's on?" Trent question.

"It is. He's right down this hall." The nurse smiled.

Trent stopped dead in his tracks. "Nope. No way. This definitely isn't going to work." Trent replied.

At Trent's words, the rest of the team also stopped and looked around. Not finding anything out of the ordinary. "What's going on Trent?" Jason asked. "What's wrong with this floor."

Trent ignored Jason's questions, almost annoyed at him for even having to ask. Then he remembered how he had almost forgotten himself while they were still in the ambulance. "What did they tell you about his injuries?" Trent questioned, starting to get the feeling the hospital staff wasn't given the whole story.

"Just that we had a soldier coming in after being in some sort of accident who had a few breaks and bruises and required extensive ankle surgery. You know how the military is, telling the bare minimum of what they think we need to know." The nurse was beginning to get the feeling that something pretty important was left out of their initial 'heads up' call.

Trent rubbed his eyebrows as he became furious. "An accident." He laughed and turned to face the rest of Bravo. "Dig you guys hear that? Clay was in a freaking accident." He continued to laugh in disbelief before turning back towards the nurse and once again became dead serious. "He wasn't in a freaking accident! He was captured and tortured, kept in a small cement room for multiple days, where chances are the only contact he had was for a beat down. Ever hear of sensory deprivation? Cause he was showing quite a few signs of it."

"I'm sorry. We weren't informed about any of that and the only type of sensory deprivation I've heard of is the therapeutic kind. It's supposed to help relax whoever is doing it." The nurse admitted, though she had another feeling this was something completely different.

"I can assure you the type of sensory deprivation he went through was not relaxing... Within the first few hours you become increasingly disoriented. You fall asleep out of boredom, wake up to pitch black with no idea about how long you've been asleep. Once you hit that 24-hour mark, that's where the real struggle starts. You become increasingly paranoid as your mental alertness slows down. Think about it, there is zero light which makes it nearly impossible to stimulate your brain. Give yourself a few more hours and you start pacing just trying to keep yourself busy. After the pacing ends you might take another nap for who knows how long and when you wake up again things get even worse. Typically, when you approach 40 hours is when you start hallucinating. Based on what I witnessed, he definitely had some hallucinations." Trent took a breath as he directed his attention towards Sonny, knowing he was involved in one of those hallucinations. When Sonny gave him a nod, Trent continued. "From there it just keeps getting worse. No one has really had the chance to talk to him about it yet so there's no way to know for sure exactly what he went through yet, but we had a long flight home and I made it my personal task to find out as much about sensory deprivation as I could. That's how I know this," Trent pointed around the busy hospital floor, "isn't going to work."

The nurse seemed a bit overwhelmed following Trent's little lecture. "We were not informed about any of that. I'm sorry. I'll see what we can do about that."

"You better see what you can do quickly. God only knows how he's going to react once he wakes up, which by my calculations could be very soon." Trent was definitely not happy about the situation. Whoever was in charge of informing the hospital was definitely going to get a long talking to once he finds out who it was, but in the meantime, he and Sonny went with the nurse to find a new, quieter room for Clay and make sure Trent approved. His plan was to find one before Clay woke up.

Unfortunately, that wasn't going to happen. Once Sonny, Trent and the nurse stepped onto the elevator and the door closed, the rest of Bravo heard a commotion coming from a few doors down. They ran to the room, knowing it had to be Clay's.

Upon entering the room, they found Clay's tray table knocked over, one of his IV's pulled out which caused blood to drip down his arm and a nurse trying her best to hold him down as he struggled to try to get away.

Ray and Jason quickly ran over to keep him down and try to prevent him from hurting himself anymore. The good news was that he was still under the affects of the anesthesia and with his under injuries, he wasn't at full strength or else he could have done some real damage and the nurse wouldn't have had a chance of keeping him down.

"Calm down Clay! We're here! We've got you!" Jason kept repeating to him.

Eventually his words seemed to reach Clay. "Jace?" Clay asked with a raspy voice.

"Yeah bud, it's me. We're all here. I know it's hard, but just try to relax okay?" Jason said calmly even though he was feeling anything but calm.

"Help." Was all Clay could manage to get out. Everything going on at once was just way too much for him to handle at the moment.

"We're working on that right now Clay. We just need you to try calm down a little bit. Trent and Sonny went with the nurse to find you a different room that's not so overwhelming. We're gonna move you there as soon as they get back." Ray said calmly.

In the meantime, Brock walked over and switched the lights off, shut the door and close the blinds. Jason was able to loosen his hold on Clay's shoulders, while Ray was able to also loosen his hold on Clays legs, being extra careful off his heavily casted ankle.

Clay slowing started to calm down a bit once the room became a little darker and quieter. It wasn't completely dark or quiet but it was the best they could do at the moment. Despite him trying his best to relax, they could still tell he was struggling. They could feel how tense his muscles were, his jaw was clenched shut and his eyes were closed while he tried to focus solely on his breathing.

It took a little longer than they would have liked but Trent and Sonny finally returned with the nurse to let them know that they had found a room. The only problem was that I t was on the complete opposite side of the hospital and the only way to get there was through the loud, bright hallways. As a result, the nurse offered to give him a mild sedative to help him relax. As much as Clay wanted to accept it, he quickly declined.

"Clay…" Trent said sympathetically. "No one is going to judge you for wanting to take something. It's gonna take quite a few minutes to get to your new room. You sure you can handle it?"

Clay slowly nodded his head and mumbled, "Tired of it. I'll be fine." He was determined to prove it not only to his team, but to himself, that he could handle it. Truth be told, he wasn't entirely sure he could, but he had to try.

The nurse walked over and started getting him ready to move. Once they were all ready, he closed his eyes and returned his focus to his breathing as Brock opened the door and they headed towards the hall.


End file.
